I, along with help from others, will be submitting an official proposal to the board, but I acknowledge that a NAFA election is coming up and would like the new board to vote on it next year. I am looking for the flyball community’s support for the 150,000 title as well as other titles beyond 100,000 NAFA points.

Shadow carried the torch for many years and it is time for a new handler.

Shadow Karen Larkin Troy, MI Paws-a-tive Attitude
NAFA Top Pointed Dogs 2005 – September, 2012
Points 153,112
Iron Dog 10 Consecutive NAFA racing years
Shadow ~ 1998-2012

The torch will change hands when history is made on September 15/16, 2012 in Rockton, Ontario.

Congratulations to Elva and Rukus!

Rukus, Elva Bradley Caledon, ON DOG-ON-IT
NAFA Top Pointed Dogs August 31, 2012
Points 153,027
Iron Dog 10 Consecutive NAFA racing years
Shadylane’s Razin A Rukus ~ 2002-2012

Is NAFA just about the fastest teams, or also about dogs with longevity – solid and sturdy? I think it is time for the NAFA board to review once again this issue of a 150,000 point title.

Most of these dogs that run year after year are well conditioned and we will see more and more dogs being able to reach the 150,000 point level. NAFA titles go from 30,000 – Grand Champion, to 100,000 – Hobbes, but are recognized at all other intervals of 10,000 in between. There are no awards for any dog with greater than 100,000 points.

This has been asked by others in the past, but each time the NAFA board has turned it down, stating that there would not be enough dogs to be recognized at this level. Well I think the time is here to award a title at 150,000 points. It will be ten years since the Hobbes title was awarded September 2002.

Gary told me himself way back when that there was a great big strong push from the flyball community to have the new 100,000 point “Hobbes Award”. If you feel that the time is here to have a new 150,000 point title, please send your comments to NAFA.

North American Flyball Association, Inc.
1333 West Devon Avenue, #512
Chicago, IL 60660
(800) 318-6312 (phone and fax)
flyball@flyball.org

I would like to remind and re-congratulate:

Gary Mueller and Hobbes – A great person and wonderful dog who began to set the bar so high!

Hobbes awards as of August 5, 2012:

930808 Hobbes Mix 109310 Gary Mueller Brampton ON HOBBES=09/28/02
960116 Indy Shetland Sheepdog 139586 Pam Koons Novi MI HOBBES=08/30/03
980128 Shadow Mix 153112 Karen Larkin Troy MI HOBBES=01/17/04
960741 Cosmo Labrador Retriever 106020 Michael Zamonski Howell MI HOBBES=06/04/05
940786 Off On Intrepid Border Collie 106802 Mary Kline Andover MN HOBBES=02/19/06
960417 Glide Border Collie 108465 Cindy Arnold Fair Haven MI HOBBES=06/03/06
990699 Bizzz-Quick Border Collie 135064 Ally & Scott Kolesnikow Montreal West QC HOBBES=11/25/06
980294 Xandr Jack/Parson Russell Terrier 111699 Linda Sell Gregory MI HOBBES=07/21/07
990613 Mason Border Collie 110987 Sue Osadchuk Hillsburgh ON HOBBES=10/13/07
970122 Roxanne Border Collie 104875 Jane Horsfield Fountain Valley CA HOBBES=01/20/08
020063 Divit Border Collie 101801 Russell Rex Arcanum OH HOBBES=04/12/08
990354 Razor Mix 113938 Angela Stefanec East St. Paul MB HOBBES=06/07/08
020131 Rukus Mini Australian/American She152292 Elva Bradley Caledon ON HOBBES=06/14/08
981124 Bainbridge Savannah “Hannah” Australian Shepherd 108257 Sharon Atkinson Omaha NE HOBBES=05/16/09
030159 Digit Border Collie 110499 Lynette VandeVenter Loveland CO HOBBES=09/05/09
021414 Sweep Border Collie 123523 Amanda Brown Raleigh NC HOBBES=03/06/10
040545 Scooby Border Collie 135254 Crystal Cappel Atlantic IA HOBBES=05/01/10
050146 Kaya Mix 123901 Sean Higley & Keri Caraher Ault CO HOBBES=08/14/10
011142 Daisy Jack/Parson Russell Terrier 108748 Carol-Anne DeVenne RR#2, Lynden ON HOBBES=07/09/11
010405 Blaze Jack/Parson Russell Terrier 115885 Lara Sorensen Edmonton AB HOBBES=09/11/10
020192 Beans Jack/Parson Russell Terrier 114113 Linda Smith Edmonton AB HOBBES=04/09/11
990859 Jesse Jack/Parson Russell Terrier 102124 Anne Jansen Maple Grove MN HOBBES=05/29/11
060241 Emma Jo Labrador Retriever 115131 Paula Luhring Waverly IA HOBBES=08/21/11
021325 Zing Border Collie 105363 Julie Tillman Ames IA HOBBES=11/19/11
020460 Riot Mix 104814 Cheryl Wood Lynnwood WA HOBBES=09/17/11
000327 Free Border Terrier 100456 Donna Sapp Glen Burnie MD HOBBES=12/03/11
050043 Hatter Border Collie 107727 Crystal Cappel Atlantic IA HOBBES=12/03/11
040006 No Clownin’ Around Mix 102950 Ally Stern-Kolesnikow Montreal West QC HOBBES=02/19/12
051392 Murphy Golden Retriever 101357 Cyndi Porter Minneapolis MN HOBBES=06/16/12

Clyde Moore and Onyx – “Clyde also owned and ran the first dog to reach 20,000 points with the North American Flyball Association. Onyx, a Doberman Pincher, has the distinction of having the 20,000 point title named after her, called the “The Onyx Award”. Onyx had obtained over 40,000 points. She started her racing career before the point system was administered by NAFA and would have probably been well over 50,000 if she had gotten points during her entire flyball career.”

I remembering meeting and running flyball with Clyde Moore way back when… we just ran fun matches, before Kala had a NAFA number, now called CRN.

Karen Larkin

I removed a post yesterday titled, Will Integrity in Flyball Win? This was yet another post about a subject that has been hammered on this blog by past posts. I think the position of the author of these posts is very clear and further discussion on this blog is overkill. At this point, I feel it is a matter between the two Flyball organizations and the person in question.

When I created the blog in 2007, I did not envision it would become a watch dog for the Flyball community. I know that I’m partially to blame for this because of the topics I chose to discuss. However, my goal and vision for the blog in 2007 was to discuss training, health and fitness, and topics of interest to all in the Flyball community. I am sorry that my vision has fallen short and will never be realized.

The blog will soon be ending and no further posts are planned. It has had its ups and downs and I have enjoyed being part of it, but now I would like to end it and just fade away.

Larry

Effective as of November 1, 2011, version 2.2 of the U-FLI Rules and Regulations went into effect. You will find among the changes the addition of a new class of competition: Pre-Flight Singles Class is intended for dogs that are not yet ‘race ready’.

Pre-Flight was created to address the concerns of competitors who wanted a more competitive singles class. Too often, dogs were entered in singles who were not ‘race-ready’ and unable to race head-to-head against an opponent in the opposite lane.

Here is a summary of the rules and conditions governing Pre-Flight Singles:

• Dogs entered in this class will be in two races, four heats each.
• False starts will not be re-run.
• Times will not be recorded.
• No judges are required, however the participant may provide their own ‘judges’ if they desire.
• Gating and or props, of any kind will not be allowed.
• Participant with the competing dog, has the option of allowing another dog in the ring with its’ own handler.
• The warm-up time allowed will be the same as allowed for Singles and Pairs at the event.
• An overall time limit of 10 minutes, to run the 4 heats, for each race will apply.
• Both dogs must have a RUN and be of racing age.
• Handlers can release at any time.
• During a race, the dogs entered in this class may use one or both lanes as the participants choose.
• The competing dog may not be entered in any other class.
• Dogs entered in this class will not earn U-FLI points.
• This class of racing can be offered by the Host club before, during or after regular racing.
• Host club fees paid to U-FLI are based on Singles.
• All other racing rules apply.

My team took advantage of this new class at a tournament held in Michigan last month. None of us knew what to expect but, it turned out to be a very productive learning experience for both dogs and handlers. First, it helped tremendously to work with dogs who have “crossing over” issues. We had the opportunity to set up distractions in the true hyped up environment of a tournament in progress.

Second, dogs that we thought were not “race-ready” demonstrated to us that they could focus on their training and handler even with the distractions. It was delightful to have evidence that we could “up the ante” during training sessions with these dogs. Without Pre-Flight, these dogs would have continued to be held back during training. We also felt that certain dogs would’ve advanced much faster during training if Pre-Flight had been available during their earlier flyball training.

One final thought that we had as a result of trying out this new class is this: Pre-Flight offers a potentially effective tool to prevent dogs from “crossing over” by providing an opportunity for better proofing dogs in training. I think proofing dogs that cross for whatever reason (herding, chasing prey or just want to say “hi”) will create a safer flyball racing environment for everybody.

To review all of the rules, please download a copy of version 2.2 of the
“U-FLI Rules and Regulations” and the companion document “Summary of Changes” available here.

Chris